


Our Saving Grace

by paintingtheworldgray



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, M/M, Prequel, Sad, The Captive
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-28
Updated: 2012-12-28
Packaged: 2017-11-22 18:43:35
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,570
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/613005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paintingtheworldgray/pseuds/paintingtheworldgray
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Beaten, broken and hurt, needing someone to care about you in a way you've never known before. Sold, sad, and unloveable, needing someone to care about you in a way you've never known before. Used, forgotten, and never the best, needing someone to care about you in a way you've never known before. Liam Payne and his two older sister are abused by their drunken parents; Niall Horan is forced into prostitution by his family, so they can pay their bills; Zayn Malik is a rich man's second son, never being listened to and never talked to; each of them needing to be saved. Each of them, looking for someone or something, to be their saving grace. (Short story about how Louis Tomlinson from The Captive, saved them.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Liam's Story

Part One: Liam's Story

Told by: Louis Tomlinson

________________________________________

 

I had been friends with Liam, way back to when we were in diapers, back when Liam's parents had good jobs and smiled. Now whenever I was at their house, his mum's hair was unbrushed and his father smelled like he hadn't bathed in months, both of them wearing unhappy grimaces. Nicola and Ruth, had to quit school to get jobs to pay the bills and their parents' drinking problem. Liam use to tell me everything that went through his insanely smart brain, he use to tell me what he had for breakfast and what was interesting on the news. Now, its like pulling teeth with him, just getting him to answer a question in class and when he does, his voice is coarse like he had been screaming. His fashion sense changed from v-neck t-shirts to long-sleeve plaid shirts, from skinny jeans to baggy joggers and jeans. He was like a whole different person, the Liam who told me it was okay to be bisexual, is gone. The Liam whom rubbed Sarah's back when she found out she was pregnant, is just a memory. The man is not my friend, he is a shell, an empty shell that won't tell me anything. Which is how the fight started, it started because of who Liam James Payne has become. Liam Payne, the greatest student body president, was a distant memory. The teenager, who acted like a forty year old man, was not a dramatic mute of stereotypicality. 

 

"I'm done, Liam, I'm done trying to be your friend!" I screamed at him as he sat silently on my bed, not having said a word since we arrived at my house two hours ago, "I guess the whole bisexuality thing finally caught up with you, huh? Guess I am just a dirty little faggot to you, it disgust you to talk to me now." I continued to scream, I had been dealing with this shitty excuse for a best friend for months now and as I stated, I was done. "Just...Just can you tell me why you hate me so much now, why you won't talk to me?"

 

"It's not you, Lou, I'm still your best..." I didn't let Liam finish, I couldn't knowing that he was going to call himself my best friend, when at this point I am not so sure. Ask me three months ago, I would without a doubt say that Liam was my best mate, the best man at my future wedding. It's amazing how much can change in a few months, how a mother could loose her job of cleaning houses, how a father could loose his job at a corporate office. How loving parents could turn into malicious bastards, who abuse the children, the children they raised. How you can lose your best friend because they change their entire personality, along with their wardrobe. 

 

"Don't you dare finish that, you're not my best friend anymore, you're far from it. You haven't even been a friend to me in months, MONTHS, Liam." I was crying, my hands shaking and my emotions were everywhere. I wanted a good reason why I didn't have a best friend anymore, I wanted to know why Liam never answered my questions and I wanted to know why he wouldn't look me in the eye. "Are you going to give me answers Liam or are you just going to throw away our years of friendship?"

 

"Louis, don't cry, can't you just except that I can't tell you? Can't you just let it go?" Liam begged me, tears also trailing down his cheeks but he still hasn't looked up at me yet, though he still knew I was crying.

 

"I won't stop crying, I am upset and have been for a while now." I sobbed out, falling to my knees, crying into my hands. "I just want my best friend back because I love him and miss him, I am lonely...so lonely..." Liam looked up at me for the first time since he entered my house, I noticed his black eye and the cut on the bottom of his lip, I gasped out loudly. "Who the fuck is beating you up and why?" He doesn't know that I have I noticed the other bruises, the ones that only show when he is changing for Physical Education. When he is trying to hide them, the long lashes over his back, that resemble welts from a belt. 

 

"I...I...Lou, please don't make me tell you, you can't help anyway..." Liam pleaded with me, begged me, but I needed to know who was hurting my best friend. I needed to try and comfort him like he did to me many times before, like when my father died. I knew it wasn't someone from school, everyone loved Liam, he was nice and tried to help everyone out. Liam was natural smart, natural understood what teacher's were explaining, that made him quite popular in school. I glared at him, making him know I was not letting this go, Liam sighed before talking. "It's my parents, they're beating all of us, for the littlest of things. Like if Nicola or Ruth, doesn't make as much money as they are "suppose" to, my mum beats the shit out of them. If I get a mark lower then an A, even an A minus, I get beaten to a bloody pulp." Fresh tears were streaming down my face, I had to help Liam and his sisters, they were family and they did not deserve this. I had to think of a plan first and it was not going to be easy, it was going to be hard and I was going to need my mother. 

 

"So, Geoff and Karen are beating the children? Oh my word, poor Liam, what would ever make someone want to hit their children and cause damage?" My mum was in tears, I knew I had her on board with saving them, protecting them, we just had to think of a way. Mum was in the process of getting ready for her part time job, she didn't need to work full-time because when my dad died, he left behind a lot of money. He was loaded, rolling in money, leaving it all behind to us in a saving account.

 

"What if we took them in? We have a big enough house, I mean it's freaking huge and just the two of us, they could live with us." My mum stopped the tying of her apron to ponder over what I had said, not having much time though or she'd mess her shift at the local preschool. We lived in a huge house with six bedrooms, seven if you count the one in the attic no one likes, and two bathrooms (Not including the one in the master bedroom and the half bathroom that is downstairs, near the kitchen), way too much space for two people. When I was younger, I use to bring in stray animals to take up space in the house, I must have had seven dogs at one point. I am feeling the Payne children are just like my pets, they needed help and I was going to offer it, whether my mother agreed or not. The house was mine, it is in my name, just like the money and Liam was my brother. "It would be no different then how we live now, Ruth and Nicola can go back to university, Liam and I can stay at college." 

 

"If you can persuade them to live with us, I am all for it, Lou." My mum said as she grabbed her purse and headed for the door, "It might be hard though, no matter what they do, they are still Liam's parents." When I brought the idea up to Liam, during our lunch break, he shot me down, not even giving it a thought. He said his parents would get back on their feet, everything would go back to normal and everyone will be forgiven. Inside, I don't think Liam believed was he was saying, I think he was just wishful thinking in the wrong direction. Liam didn't even take the chance and see what the girls thought on the issue, he just answered right away, not even thinking about it. 

 

_______________________________

Part Two: Liam's Story

Told by: Liam Payne

_______________________________

 

Ever since Louis brought up living with him, I couldn't help but think about, it would mean I would be loved. Jay, Louis's mum, already loved me like a son and was always buying my older sisters gifts. The girls kept getting more shit because the restaurant they work at was slowly loosing business to a newer one, so their tips were greatly less. The beating has picked up, more often, more bloody nose and bruises. Ruth and Nicola were at their wits end, I couldn't continue to take their beatings for them, I'd end up dead. "Louis offered for us to live with him, I turned him down, mum and dad will pull out of this..." I let it trail off, unsure anymore if they would pull out and stop beating us, were they addicted to hitting us? Ruth looked at me angrily, I could see it in the glare and frown, that were situated on her beautiful face. Nicola looked like how I assume I do, unsure, not knowing what would be the right decision. We all just sat on my bed, think about our opinions, trying to think of what was best for the entire family. 

 

The day past and before I knew it, I was down stairs making dinner or at least trying to make dinner. My mum use to make the best food imaginable, even Louis use to agree but now, I had to take care of it or no one would eat. I could only make simple things, like: meatloaf; macaroni and cheese; soups; fry-up, things like that. I was just putting the pan of water on the stove, when both my parents came stumbling into the kitchen, a piece of paper in my father's hand. I tried to pay them no mind as I set to finish cracking eggs into a bowl for the meatloaf, but I never made it to the refrigerator. A fist connected with the back of my head, sending me flying onto the floor, looking up into the drunk rage that was my father. "You filthy faggot, that's what you are isn't it?" He seethed at me angrily, I wasn't gay or at least, I haven't come to terms with it yet. "We found the letter you broke up with Danielle through, telling her you had falling for another boy, you sick bastard." I stared at the paper he was shoving in my face, it was in fact the letter I used to break up with my ex-girlfriend, telling her that I was having homosexual thoughts and needed help. My breath hitched at the look on my parents' faces, it was pure hatred and murderous, my father kicked me in the stomach hard. "You wanted help? We'll beat the fucking gay out of you, Liam, and if worse come to worse..."

 

"I'll take you out of this world, just as easily as I brought you into this world, queer." My mum grounded at me, her eyes blood shot and her hair a knotty mess. My dad kicked me in the stomach again, the steel toe of his boot coming in contact with one of my ribs, causing me to scream out loudly. Tears starting flowing down my face as my mother started joining in, kicking me in the face as my father stepped on one of my wrist, with his full weight. The beating stopped when I stopped screaming, my voice too hoarse and my vision too blurry to see, they left me in a puddle of my own blood as they went to drink more. I was fading in and out of consciousness, want nothing more than to remember the old times when my parents loved me, wanting nothing more than to sleep. 

 

When I woke up, i noticed the overly light room and the too white of walls to be my kitchen, I had to turn my head trying to shield it from the light. I noticed Louis, Nicola and Ruth, asleep in plastic chairs by my bedside and a nurse taking my vitals. I tried to ask her how I got here but nothing came out of my open mouth and when I took a breath in, my body was taken over by pain. I cringed, tears starting to cloud my eyes as I clawed at the nurse, who gasped when she realized I was awake. She quickly rushed to my side, injecting a needle into one of my IVs then she started talking to me. "I'm sorry, dear, my name is Mary and I am appointed as your full-time nurse." She smiled kindly at me, reaching into a bag on the table behind her, pulling out a bottle full of red liquid then walking over to a mini fridge and taking out a water bottle. "First I'm going to spray this medicine in your mouth, it will help your sore throat and stop any further irritation, okay?" I nodded my head and opened my mouth, Mary sprayed the red liquid down my throat, the liquid numbed my throat. "Now, you going to drink this water bottle and I'll wake your family up, lunch should be served soon." I twisted the cap off of the bottle, taking a huge gulp of it, relishing in the cooling effect all the way down my throat. Mary went over and shook Louis, Ruth and Nicola, telling them it was time to get up, I watched as my loved ones opened their puffy eyes. Nicola and Ruth had make-up running down their cheeks and Louis had a bruise on left cheek, all of them looking worse for words. 

 

"Oh my God, Liam, you're awake!" Louis screamed as he saw my eyes open, I nodded my head before Louis launched himself at me, trying to hug me without hurting me. "You've been asleep for three days, three bloody days, Liam..." Louis was crying then, tears trickling down his cheeks as he held my hand, I took my hand up his face over the bruise. "Oh that, your dad punched me when I tried to carry you out, he wanted you to die, kept calling you a queer." My father punched Louis, that's not okay, Louis has never done anything wrong to anybody, let alone my parents. Louis has been trying to help my parents get another job, has been loaning them money to pay the bills the girls can't afford, then my dad just punches him? Isn't there a saying about not biting the hand that feeds you? "I'm fine though, Liam, you're the one I am worried about. You have a broken nose, a black eye, a fracture wrist and crack ribs, your parents really messed you up..." The pain I felt when I first woke up, all made sense now, my parents meant to kill me, they honestly meant to kill me.

 

"Liam, we're going to live with Louis, we can't risk having you get this hurt again Liam..." Nicola said, looking like she was worried to tell me but I knew they were right, I couldn't continue to get beat up and abused. "We have some other bad new, when they used the dye for a cat-scan, the beating your kidneys took and the dye caused them to fail. You'll need to get a transplant and soon, otherwise you'll have to go on dialysis or you'll die, Liam." I looked at her wide-eyed, my kidneys were messed up because of the abuse, I had to go through surgery. I felt my eyes start to water up, not did my parents beat me so bad that I ended up in the hospital asleep for three days, it was all too upsetting. 

 

Two weeks later, I was leaving the hospital going to Louis's house, that already had all of my stuff at it. My parents signed their parental rights of me over to Jay, so Jay was now my parent by law, Nicola and Ruth had quit their jobs. They were signed up for uni courses, they start next month and they both are excited about finally going to learn more, Jay excited about having daughters. Louis has been following be around like a guard dog, much like Courtney is with Sarah, only I'm not pregnant. Louis is my best friend and now, he really is my brother, legally and everything. Louis is going to take care of me, like he always does and I'll never be alone, I'll never be unloved again. I will forever know love because of Louis and Jay, saving me from the horrible life I started to live in, no more abuse. Just love.


	2. Zayn's Story

Part Three: Zayn's Story

Told By: Zayn Malik

_____________________________

 

I stared at my family: my father, mother and older brother; the people who wanted nothing to do with me. I was never going to be Wayne, I was never going to ace every exam, I was never going to take over the company, I was never going to be a business man. There they stood in the party attire, my father and brother in matching tuxes while my mother wore some famous designer dress, in the entry way of the mansion. I sat on the stairs, watching them interact with each other, fix loose hairs, straighten a bow-tie, perfect a pocket hankie. Not once did they look my way, not once did they ask for me to join them, not once did they care what happened to Zayn. On the stairs is where I sat, alone but loyal, until they stumbled back into the mansion in the early morning, not sparing me a glance this time around either. My father owned Malik Inc. and I was just the unwanted second son, the son that my mother couldn't get an abortion over. Maybe I was being hard on myself but what self-loathing seventeen year old is going to feel happy about being unwanted? It was always the same thing with my parents, "Zayn be more like Wayne", "Zayn, when Wayne was your age he was in all honor courses", "Wayne was the football captain, what are you, Zayn?" 

 

They didn't care about me, the only time they cared about me is when it benefitted them, like when I started singing. Singing was the only thing I liked about my life, I had a nice set of vocal cords, ones that I used anytime I was sad or depressed, letting out my bad feelings through songs. Songs like Freshman by The Verve Pipe or The Anthem by Good Charlotte, one being a song about suicide and the other about being an individual. I didn't care if my parents heard me, if the staff heard me, if the people attending my parents' parties heard me, that's all I ever wanted was to be heard. To know that someone cared about me, honestly me, for the first time in seventeen years. I wanted to know what if felt like to be loved like Wayne, to be seen as Wayne, to look like Wayne, to act like Wayne, all things my parents wanted of me. I couldn't do it though, every time I let my hair hang flat on my forehead and not stuck up in a quiff, I felt like I betrayed myself. Every time I acted like I was better than my classmates, threw about my money at them, I felt the taste of bile in my mouth. Every time I dressed in suits, just to sit in the living room with people from my father's work, I felt like a piece of me died. Every time I pushed song lyrics to the back of my head, left untouched until I was alone or in the shower, I knew I wasn't happy. 

 

Who could be happy pretending their life was better than someone else's? Who could be happy sitting around in thousand dollar suits, when there are homeless people who cannot afford food? Who could be happy living in the shadow of someone, who you don't even find that great to begin with? No one was happy, that was the point, my mother would look at me and see what Wayne should have been. A boy, a teenage boy, with the dreams of a child and the mind set of a poor person. She sees how she once lived, before she met my father and became rich, a person who wanted to change the world. My mum loves me or she makes it seem like she does sometimes, when she distracts my father from his constant comparing me to Wayne. No matter how much she loved me though, she could never stand up to my father, not when he had his mind set on something. Something that was horrible, unneeded in every single way but inside his demented mind. 

 

"What do you mean you're sending him away, you can't send him away, there is nothing wrong with him?" My mother's words came out as a question, not completely understanding what my father had just announced, that or she didn't want to believe it. My father had just informed the family, that I was being sent away to an insane asylum, the best money could buy. Why? Because one too many people saw me singing to myself, called me crazy to my father and I tarnished his name. The only way to bring his name back to the good side or what he considered good, was to plead insanity, say I really was crazy. He tried to explain this to my mother, tell her this was the only way his company would not a hit, it was in the name of business. Wayne smirked across from me as I stared blankly at my father, knowing that I would be going away because like I said, my mother could not stand up to my father. It was set, the date for my arrival booked, my most "important" items being shipped to my room, my goodbyes left unsaid. The moment I was told, I stopped talking, I stopped eating, I stopped singing, I stopped writing, I stopped everything I could. I wanted to be in control of something, I wanted to know I ruled something in my own life, I wanted to be my own person. 

 

My father made a huge deal about my leaving, threw a party, called the press, did interviews, hired a limo, and went with me to sign in. It was odd for me, to be the center of my father's attention, even if it was all fake, even if it was lies, even if it was just for a few moments. My entire life I lived for moments my father would give me attention, whether it was to yell at me other my cell phone bill, to tell me I wasn't invited to a party, to compare me to Wayne. Those were my memories of my father, the ones I hold close to my heart, the ones that would mean nothing to a normal person. He chose an asylum in London, not one closer to Bradford where the mansion was located. The ride was quiet, no one talked, no one even wanted to chance breathing, no one wanted to upset the horrible balanced that was placed. Once at the place, my parents had to fill out some forms with the front desk lady who smiled kindly at me, something I was not use to. Once all the paperwork was filled out, the front desk lady showed us around the building, pointing out normal important places. Where my parents would have to go for visiting day, which they would never come to, they would never be back here again until they needed me for something. They wouldn't need me until Wayne got married, then I would be let out for the wedding only to be put back in again, some life I will live.

 

My parents and Wayne left before I even made it to my room, plain looking with all of the items I had shipped, sitting in boxes. My life left to cardboard boxes in an empty room, my life left to therapy sessions twice a day, my life left to lying to people everyday to make my father happy. You know that one moment in your favourite book or television program when everything changes, it's called the breaking point and it took me two months to reach mine. Two months of going to group therapy, talking openly about my life, about my thoughts and mostly, about music. Two months of my therapist telling me I wasn't insane, she doesn't know why I am in an insane asylum when I am normal, she doesn't want me to be stuck here. Two months too long, two months of no communication from my parents, two months with nothing from Wayne, two months of being stuck in a cage like room. It was my therapist's idea, her name was Cyndi, she hated me being there when I didn't need help. "You know, Zayn, in six months you'll be eighteen...If I said you were healthy, you could sign yourself out and live a normal life, one without your parents..." Cyndi meant well, she wanted something I never aloud myself to think about, how easy it was to have the life I always wanted. Six months was a long time, a long time to sit and plan for the future of your dreams.

 

By the time my birthday rolled around, Cyndi had already said I wasn't insane and I had all of my important items stored at her house, to retrieve when I got on my feet. In the early morning of January 12th, I signed my name at the bottom of release forms, a knapsack on my back and then just walked out the front door. The euphoric feeling of finally being free was short lived when I realized I had no money, no place to stay, and I was alone. I walked blocks away from the asylum, wanting to distance myself as far from it as I possibly could, until I came across a group of young homeless people. They all had tattered coats, fingerless gloves, holy trousers, and worse, they didn't have any hair gel or a mirror. Living with them wasn't so bad though, random strangers like to give me money because I was pretty, whereas they didn't want to give the others any because they were ugly and dirty. I would raise as much money as I could during the day, then at night I would go to a Tesco and con the cashier girl into giving me a whole bunch of discounted food, that I would then give to my homeless friends. I never ate until they did, sometimes I went days without eating, just making sure they had something to live off of. I started to loose weight, it was like falling off of me and people noticed, especially this one boy with straighten dirty blonde hair. He came around everyday and gave me at least a tenner, but most days it was more and I wondered where he got all the money at. He couldn't have been much older than me, maybe a year or two at the most, wearing normal clothes and always having a happy smile on his face. 

 

I decided that I was going to ask him one day, ask him why he gave me money, where he got the money, but mostly how old he was. The boy stared at me as I asked him all the question, looking wide eyed but smiling nonetheless. "M'name is Liam Payne, I'm nineteen and this is extra money." He said as if it was the most natural thing in the world, having "extra" money and just randomly giving it away to strangers. I voiced this to him, it coming out very harsh even though I didn't mean for it, it just happened. "Well, you see, I live with my best friend and his mum, they're really rich and give me money all the time. I never have a need for large banknotes, they buy everything I need, so I thought I'd give it to the homeless. Help people like how my mate helped me." His mate helped him, his mate just randomly gives him money, his mate is rich. I just couldn't understand what he was saying, why did his friend have to help him out, why did I need to be help also. "I was abused," Liam explained. "my parents use to beat the living shit out of me, for no reason at all, I almost died." I stared in horror at the happy boy in front of me as he handed me a twenty pound banknote, smiling to where he hazel eyes crinkled. "Louis, my mate, saved my sisters and me, offered us a home." Liam was always so happy, smiling, handing out money to any homeless person he saw, not just me. To find out he had such a horrible home life, when I though mine was bad was terrible, I ended up telling him my story once. "Your dad just sent you away because you were making him look bad? He sent you to an insane asylum because you liked to sing to yourself? Oh, Zayn, that is horrible, mate."

 

Liam stopped coming for about two weeks, he just disappeared and the lonely feeling started to seep back into the corners of my mind. When he showed up again, he was toting a shorter man with him, the man having brown wild hair and crystal clear blue eyes. "Liam, slow down, mate. You shouldn't be moving this fast after getting out of the hospital, you'll reopen your stitches or something." When they arrived in front of me, Liam was smiling just as brightly as always and he introduced me to Louis, the brown haired blue eyes man that saved his life. 

 

"Sorry, I was gone for so long, Zayn, I had to get a kidney..." Liam said thrusting a fifty pound banknote into my hand, nudging Louis in the ribs with his elbow, Louis handed me a fifty pound banknote too. "I would have been here earlier but Louis wouldn't let me out of the house, I wasn't even aloud to stay in my own bedroom!" I laughed at the sour look Louis gave Liam, their friendship was something I never saw before, I didn't know friendship until I became homeless. Louis kept glancing at me, checking me out in a way as Liam talked about the grossness that was hospital food. "I hope you don't mind but I shared your story with Louis, he won't do anything wrong, maybe just offer you a place to live..." Liam said one day when Louis couldn't come with him, I didn't want to leave the other homeless people, they needed the money I provided them with. "Louis is having a homeless shelter built two blocks away, he's going to donate money to it every month, you and your friends will have warm beds to sleep in. He is also going to have someone there that is going to help find jobs, so you can work if you want and get back on your feet." 

 

Not even a month later, the homeless shelter was built and half of the people found jobs, Louis had stuck with his promise. The food was good, the bed were nice, the blankets weren't scratchy, and the people who worked there, were as nice as could be. I still went out on the streets, trying to raise money anyway I could, until the rememberable day Louis showed up again.

 

_____________________________

Part Four: Zayn's Story

Told By: Louis Tomlinson

_____________________________ 

 

When I found out how protective Liam felt about Zayn, I knew I had to help in anyway I could, it meant something to my brother. I started off by giving Liam more and more money, when I knew he was going to see Zayn, it was a start of the long plan I had. Then I had a new homeless shelter built, one that I did most of the funding for and hand picked the staff. I made sure everyone was nice, that they had good work history and that they honestly just wanted to help other people out. Zayn Malik meant something to my best friend and now brother, that meant he meant something to me too. After the shelter was built, I had random people go and continue to give him my money, he wanted to help the new shelter grow. Twenty pound banknotes, fifty pound banknotes, all going towards a boy who I wanted to help. The last part of my plan was to offer him a room in my house, allow him to live with us, learn what it was like to have a real family. Between Ruth, Nicola, Charlotte and Felicity, he would have a lot of sister, all of them would want to make him feel loved. I just had to figure out a way to convince him and it all started with meeting him on the street one day. "Hey Zayn, how you today man?"

 

"Oh, hi Louis, I am good..," He said, his dark hair looking cleaner than it did when I first met him, meaning he must have recently showered while at the shelter but he was unsure of why I was here talking to him. 

 

"Would you like to come and get some coffee or tea with me? I'd like to talk to you." I asked him, grabbing his hand, pulling him along with me, not giving him a chance to talk. We walked until I reached my favourite tea house, Mary's Teas, an older lady with dark hair ran it and she was always loving towards me. "Mary, can we have a pot of Yorkshire tea, some milk and sugar, plus maybe tea sandwiches?"

 

"Of course, love, it'll be right up." Mary smiled as she put a pot over one of the many burners in the store, I looked at the nervous Zayn in front of me, wondering if he knew of my intentions for bringing him here. I waited until Mary brought the tea and sandwiches, to talk to Zayn, wanting to make him as comfortable as I could. 

 

"Zayn, there's a reason I invited you to join me, I want you to move in with me." I said as he took a bite of a sandwich with cucumber on it, but he dropped it after I finished talking. "There is more than enough room for you, you'll have your own room, unless we need to save someone else but I want you to live with us. It can be like a present to Liam, we both know he is special to you, he'll sleep better at night knowing your safe with us...Please?" Zayn stared at me, swirling a spoon around inside his tea cup, thinking over everything I just said to him. 

 

"I'll do it for Liam." Zayn said with a look of intensity in his eyes, I smiled drinking my tea slowly and thinking about how happy Liam was going to be.

 

_________________________________

Part Five: Zayn's Story

Told by: Zayn Malik

________________________________

 

A week later, I was picking my stuff up from Cryndi's house and putting up in my new room, smiling at the fact I had a family now. I was upset about the fact my family didn't care about where I was, the fact they didn't send people to look for me but I know had a real family. I had always wanted people to love me for myself, I had always wanted to be able to sing whenever I wanted, I had always wanted to know what it felt like to be happy. I don't have to wonder now, I don't have to stay inside my head and act quiet, I don't have to be Wayne. I get to be Zayn, I get to sing along with my new family, I get to scream if I'm happy or just hyper. I'm aloud to have posters of my favourite bands on the wall, I'm aloud to wear clothes that are comfortable to me, I'm aloud to smile, I'm aloud to eat what I want. I don't have to pretend anymore, I don't have to fake anything. I can be sad, happy, depressed, confused, I can let my emotions show. I can be Zayn Malik. 

 

My new family loves me for who I am, my older sisters want nothing more than to shower me with gifts and knowledge. My younger sister want to dress me up and do my make-up because I am the prettiest boy they have ever seen. My brothers want me to be happy, Liam shares his life with me, his clothes, his love. Louis shares his money, his home and his heart, Louis cares about me more than my old family as a whole did. I know what a family is now, you don't have to be related, you just have to love each other for who they are. My savior came in the package of a short boy about my age with brown hair and blue eyes, his heart is larger than his entire body and I am glad I met him. Louis saved me from a life on the streets, he took care of my homeless friends and made me realize that I did not need a father who thought I was crazy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So...I am sorry for all of the tears that were spilt over Zayn's sad story but at least, you all know he is happy now! :)
> 
> Kudos and comment are always welcomed.


	3. Niall's Story

Part Six: Niall's Story 

Told By: Niall Horan 

_____________________________ 

Have you ever been pushed out of your house, onto cold, wet streets, where you must beg people to have sex with you for money? Have you ever felt so dirty that you stand under the shower head with the water as hot as it goes but it is never hot enough to boil the feel of another person's hands on you? Do you know what it is like, to be so dirty in your own mind, to be so gross, just the thought of yourself makes you vomit? Have you gone days without eating because your clients like you on the skinnier side, the unhealthy side, the perfect prostitute size? Have you ever wanted to end your own life, even when you wear a fake smile on your face? My life was horrible, it was all those thing, plus more. I was cheap, even for a whore, my price low, so more people would want to be my clients. Some prostitutes when they got beat up by a John, well, they would never have to see that John again. I was no so lucky, I needed each client I could get, even if they beat the shit out of me.

You see, my parents are poor and even though they both work jobs, it's not enough to pay the bills or the rent for our house. My parents never continued their education, didn't even finish college, so they couldn't get good jobs that paid well. I couldn't get a full time job, I'm too young, only being sixteen and I wanted to continue want education I was getting. My brother was off on a fancy scholarship to I-DON'T-GIVE-A-FLYING-FUCK University, leaving his younger brother behind to try to help the family survive. I had to have a job only at night...something that would bring money in quickly...I didn't get the idea of prostitution until my dad had a friend over, an older man, who was always staring at me funnily. "Listen Bobby, I know you're really low on money...How about I give you a thousand pounds to take yer sons virginity? That is if he even is an arsehole virgin, which I doubt with that hot arse." He was a vulgar man, who made my inside twirl and made feel like I was going to throw up. A thousand pounds was money we didn't have though and before my father could say anything, I agreed to the man's terms, my family needed the money he was offering.

About a week later, the man showed up at my doorstep, handed my parents the money and took me to a degusting motel. He forced me to take my clothes off and to lie on the bed face down with my arse up in the air, he told me to wait while he undressed. I heard each teeth of the zipper as he undid his trousers and the soft thud as he threw all his clothes into a pile. I heard him rip open the foil packet that held the condom and the pop of the lubrication bottle, my heart beat started to pick up when I heard him sliding it onto his harden member. I wasn't experienced in the art of gay sex but I knew he was suppose to prepare me first, he was suppose to stretch me open with his fingers but that wasn't going to happen. Before I knew it, he was pushing himself into me, hard and not waiting for me to have time to adjust. He kept pounding as I screamed in pain, kept moaning as I cried out for help and when he was done and pulled out. He laughed at my torn hole; laughed as it bled from his torture, then he left me there. Left me bleeding on a cheap motel bed, that's when I realized I was cheap, when I realized that I wasn't worth much and that's when I decided to sell my body for money. 

 

It was like trading your soul to the devil, once you decided you were going to do it, there was no going back. After I healed up, I started standing on street corners, dressed in the tightest clothes I owned. I would stand outside of bars and clubs, mostly, waiting for some poor sucker to come my way and pay to have sex with me. There was always many, some of them offered me more money than what I originally asked for, some of them paid me just to beat me up, some of them...well...Some of them asked for some really weird things but if they paid, I would do it. One time, I even allowed this guy to cut me across my chest with a knife, he gave me three hundred pounds for it and how was I to say no? It was all for the love of my family, every time I sold myself it was for my family, so it didn't matter to me how much I got hurt. After the first time, it was like I wasn't Niall James Horan anymore, I was just another whore.

I spent years out on the street, two years that felt like an eternity to me though, standing waiting someone to pick me up. That's when I saw him for the first time, coming out of the night club The Black Penny, he wasn't stumbling like he was drunk, he barely even looked drunk at all. I watched as he took a deep breath, then he turned to look at me, stopped dead is his tracks as he took in my appearance. I hadn't had a chance to shower in three days, meaning my hair was greasy, my face was dirty and my clothes were gross. I normally didn't care about what I looked like when it came to possible clients but this guy was different. He had soft, fluffy looking dirty blonde hair, he had a gorgeous chin structure, and his pretty hazel eyes. In short he was beautiful, in all the ways I could see from my spot under the street light. The man or boy rather, started walking my way and when he stopped in front of me, I spoke. "Hand jobs are twenty-five pounds, blow jobs are fifty pounds and sex is a hundred and fifty hour."

"I...I wasn't going to ask you for sex or anything, I just wanted to talk to you." The man said with a slight stutter on his voice and biting his lip, when he was done, making him look even hotter if that was possible. "I had no clue you were a prostitute though..."

"Well, I am and I don't want to be rude but time is money, I need the money." I said in a quiet voice, almost sad that he didn't want to pay for me because I really wanted him, for some reason. I wanted to spend the night, knowing that he would be an easy lover, not rough or violent like I was use to. Okay and maybe I just wanted him, wanted to know what his loving was like and get to know him as more than a client but that was never going to happen.

"I didn't mean to offend you, I just have never met a prostitute before, Louis and Zayn don't really let me out on the street at night...They think it is dangerous because I have such a 'kind heart' as they say, I am always inclined to help people, give them money or clothes or a place to stay for the night. Take them to my homeless shelter, Louis is okay with as long as I am with him and Zayn thinks I have something mentally wrong with me, I just like to help people." The boy talks as he took my spot leaning against the pole casually, he had seemed to warm up to me which was bad for other potential clients.

"Liam, babe, what did we tell you about running off like that." A voice came from a man with black hair, laying flat against his forehead with sweat and a shorter man standing behind him. "Your not suppose to be outside at night by yourself, love, you know that."

"See what I mean? It's like I am a baby or something, can't even have a lovely conversation with a hooker without them freaking out, I swear." He pushed off the light post and walked over to the two men, the shorter of the two wrapped a protective arm around his waist and pulled him into his side, "It was nice to meet you, mate, I'm Liam for future knowledge, hope I get to see you again." With that the three of them turned and walked down the street away from me, leaving me alone to wait for someone to pick me up.

"Niall, there you are, I was hoping to find you tonight." One of my sleazy regular clients said, while the three men were still in hearing distance, it made me a little nervous. "I'll pay you triple per hour if I get to cut you again, I'll even kill the animal blood off of my knife for you, babe." I watched Liam's foot steps falter as he heard the man's request at me. I watched as Liam leaned over to the shorter boy, grabbing on his bicep tightly as he spoke into his ears, the shorter jogged back to me.

"Sorry, Niall here is busy tonight, all night. Maybe, you can catch him some other time, ya?" The shorter one said as he grabbed my hand and pulled me with him to the other man and Liam. "I'm Louis, I'll pay you for the whole night, come with us."

"Zayn, I couldn't let it happen! It' like when I use to give you all that money, I did it because I wanted to and I don't like to see attractive people suffering like I had to." Liam spoke harshly to the dark haired man, whose name I now knew as Zayn, the shorter one continued to pull me along. "Louis, lighten up on your grip, we were suppose to save him from getting hurt tonight, not hurt him in the process." The shorter one released is grip on my wrist and shoved me to walk next to Liam, who was smiling happily at me as we continued to walk towards a lack SUV.

Normal Johns take me to motels and if I am lucky, hotels, never have I ever been to someone's house before. Liam, Louis and Zayn, didn't seem to care that I was prostitute or that I might steal from them, they just opened up the front door and walked in. Sitting on the stairs were two older looking girls, who were having a conversation about University courses and what professors they should avoid. The smiled up at the three boys, Liam lead me into the kitchen and sat me down, forcefully, on a stool near a women drinking tea. "Louis or you this time, dear? Should I go make up the other new room, take him to buy new clothes tomorrow, enroll him into a new school?" The women asked Liam, who was glaring slightly at her as I gave them both confused looks.

"He's just here for the night, Jay and then he is going back to his real home." Liam said as he walked over to a cabinet and pulled out a colourful box of cereal, a bowl and a spoon, only touching the spoon with the top of his fingers. He grabbed a carton of milk out of the refrigerator before he sat all the things down in front of me, "Eat some cereal, Niall and ignore Jay and all of her talking."

"That is no way to talk to our mother, Li." Zayn said in a mysterious voice pulling up near the back of my head as I pulled some cereal into the bowl and chewing on it slowly, after I pour milk in the bowl too. I listened to Zayn and Liam talk about Jay, the woman who was still sitting next to me, drinking to unposh like for the huge house she lived in. Jay was their "mother" but they didn't look like her, maybe they were adoptive or they got their looks from their different dads? Or they could be foster children but I am not sure how that whole system works, I don't think they call their foster parent, mum though..."So, Niall, you like Fruit Loops? Do you eat them often at your house?" Zayn asked me after I finished my third bowl of the multicoloured cereal, Jay was watching us silently while Liam went to fetch...something...

"What are Fruit Loops?" I asked, cocking my blonde head to the side, much like an adorable puppy. Watching at Zayn pointed the box of cereal that was perched in front of my bowl, "Oh well, you see, I have had any kind of cereal since I was a really little kid. I don't eat much, my clients like me to resemble a skeleton or something, I personally think it is gross..."

"Ah, I know it, you are another stray. Shoulda know when it comes to my boys, eh? I started off with one son, now I have three sons and four daughters, amazing innit?" Jay said as she stood up, grabbing my bowl and spoon, along with her mug as she walked over to the sink. "I am guessing this is all on Liam too, ya? He loves to help people out, you'd think owning and managing the homeless shelter would cure that for him, much like when Louis work at the doggy daycare and he decided he didn't want a dog after all." A stray...That's a new one, one I had never heard before, unlike whore and other harsh terms. A stray was kind of nice, like an animal that had once knew love but was currently alone, much like myself. IF I was so gross, I don't even know why Liam wanted to talk to me in the first place, let alone take me back to his house, where he had not intentions of fucking me. Another new thing, not getting fucked but getting promised money, it was odd and made me feel weird. What kind of people willing give money out to needy people, prostitutes nonetheless?

Before long, Liam and Louis were showing me the way to the guest bedroom, which was located in the attic. It had: a nice bed, if not a little squeaky; a desk; television, it has been way too long since I seen a working one of those; its own bathroom, which Liam stocked with everything I would need for a shower. It was nice of Louis, who I had found out own the house weirdly enough, to allow me to stay. They left me alone to shower and do as I pleased, I noticed a small pile of clean clothes on the desk for me to change into once my shower was done. I was I ever going to excepted I was getting paid to clean myself and freeload off of someone for the night, but in the end...I am a dirty whore and money is money. 

 

_____________________________ 

Part Seven: Niall's Story 

Told By: Liam Payne 

_____________________________ 

 

"I want him, Louis." I said once we shut the attic door, heading downstairs to the basement, where the entire family was waiting to talk about Niall. "I want him so bad I can taste it, Louis." Louis had always had a hard time telling me no, pretty much the whole reason Zayn in living with us now is for that reason, when I wanted something he gave it to me. I wanted the blonde haired prostituted, I wanted to share a room with him, make him fall in love with me, make him want me as much as I wanted him. I wanted to spend my entire life with a boy, a boy who I knew nothing about except for his first name, not even his surname. I wanted to see those crooked teeth form a smile, I wanted to hold his tiny body against mine to keep him warm, until he bulked up that was. I wanted to show him he was beautiful, sing him lovely songs about love and how I feel about him, be his Prince Charming. I wanted to love him.

"Liam, I already got you, Zayn, wasn't he enough for your hero complex?" Louis sighed as he sat down next to his mother, Jay, who was all our surrogate mother in a sense. The two newest arrivals, Charlotte and Felicity, sat next to each other on bean bag chairs watching us. 

 

"I don't have a freaking hero complex, I want him, not in the same way I wanted Zayn." I growled out at Louis, a little upset that he was hesitating on giving me what I wanted, this would be the first time since he rescued me from my abusive parents. "I want to love him, be with him as boyfriends, I don't want him out their selling himself! Making himself seem cheap, unlovable, when he isn't any of those things!"

"What if he has a loving family, Li, Louis won't take someone out of a loving family and it's not fair. If Niall has a family that wants him, that loves him, he has to go back to them." Charlotte told me in a sassy manner, one that would rival Louis in one of his moods, even though I knew she was trying to make me understand.

"What if his parents are the reason, what if they pushed him on the street, what if they are like his pimps and collecting all his money from him?" I question them, gesturing wildly with my hands, I was barely seeing straight. I want Niall so bad and no one wanted me to have him, no one wanted to help me get what I wanted. It was irritating, I was old enough to know I didn't always get what I wanted but with Louis, we always tried to give each other what ever the other wanted. Whether I wanted another box of Fruit Loops shipped over from America or Louis needed me to rough up someone, who had no plans of paying back the money they loaned from him, we were each other's right hand man. Zayn was just looking at me silently, he never had anything to say when it came to helping someone because at one point, he was the person I was helping. "Please, let's at least offer him a place to stay here, that man was going to cut him last night. He even said again, which meant he cut that innocent boy before, how could you out right let that continue to happen? Louis, you have a heart, you know your going to offer him a place come tomorrow when you give him the money. You already know, if it his parents are the reason why he is prostituting, you're going to offer him money to give his parents. Everyone in this room already knows this, they are just here because you wanted to call this silly family meeting, you wanted to pretend you weren't going to try and get me what I wanted." Everyone let out a silent chuckle, having known that Louis can't say no to any of us, if Zayn was to ask for face cream with gold in it (Which he has, mind you), Louis would buy it for him (He already has).

"If you knew I was going to give into you like you claimed, how come you were begging, Liam? If you knew I must always try and give you what you want, how come you started to panic?" Louis asked while smiling at me a little smugly.

"You could always decide you don't like me anymore, Lou, much like my parents. You could always decide I am not worth your time or you could decided to start beating the crap out of me, like my par-..."

"You parents beat you? Like they physically abused? Did they, uhm, have a reason...Like did you start a fight with them or something?" Came from a tiny voice near the staircase, when I turned Niall was sitting on the bottom step, swimming in the clothes I had given him. "My dad, he hit me once, when I was really tired and I didn't want to go out that night. The rent was due and we were still a few hundred short, even though I had spent the entire night out the night before, not making it back to the house until well after lunch time. He got frustrated and hit me, he had no right to, I know this but at the time it felt right, yano?"

"My parents were alcoholics, drank until they couldn't see straight then beat me up, broke bones, blooded my nose, left bruises all over my body. I took the beatings, not wanting Nicola and Ruth to get any of the trauma." I spoke not looking at the boy sitting on the steps, instead looking at my bare feet on the carpet, "I would tell myself after each beating, that it was never going to happen again, that my parents were going to get better and love me again. It never happened, obviously, they almost killed me when they found out I was gay. Louis took me and my sisters in, gave us a home, loved us...It's what he does best..."

"Niall, being a prostitute can't be what you want to do with your life...With that I am saying you can come and live with us too, there are more than enough rooms, I'd even be willing to send your parents money every month...It's up to you, we're not going to force you." When Louis was done talking, Niall looked upset, like he didn't know what to chose. Everyone in the room other than Louis and Jay knew what he was going through, when do you decide if your family isn't worth you being in anymore? How do you know if your going to make the right choice? What if your family gets out of their slump and they won't take you back because you left when things were rough? Everyone understood when he turned and ran up the stairs, tripping on a few as he made his way back up to the attic guest bedroom. 

_________________________________ 

Part Eight: Niall's Story 

Told by: Niall Horan 

________________________________ 

 

I left the next morning with one thousand six hundred and fifty pound in my pocket from Louis, along with a phone number and an address, in case I was to change my mind. Liam stared out the window at me, opting out of riding to drop me off at my house, I think he was sad I chose not to stay with him. He had to admit it was a little weird to go live with a stranger but so many other people did at that house, they were all there like this huge family. Zayn dropped me off, he was on his way to the homeless shelter, the one that Louis ran with the help of Liam and Zayn. On the car ride, Zayn told me his story, a vague telling of it anyway. He told me about Liam giving him money, large bank notes, always with a smile on his face. He spoke of Louis opening up a homeless shelter, which not only had food but also had workers, workers that helped the homeless find jobs. He told me how Jay was only Louis's mother, everyone else in the house was saved by Louis or Liam, both boys considering themselves saviors.

I took me a few weeks to make my way back to Louis' house, a large gashes went across my chest as I rang the doorbell, my hands pressed tightly to the wounds. I had decided that I couldn't continue to sell myself, I was starting to hate myself, loathe myself, convince myself that my death would mean nothing. If I was to die I would just be another dead hooker, much like back in the old Jack the Ripper cases, no one would miss me too much. I allowed a man to stab me tonight for four hundred fucking pounds; it was the breaking point, the point in which I knew. Knew that I needed Louis to save, needed him to take me in, needed him to show how a family is suppose to love me. That's what he did after he opened to the door to see my bloody body. He pulled me into the house, had his mother and the girls nurse my wounds. He sent my parents money every month until the got back on their feet, which happened many years later.

Louis was my savoir on paper, it was his house, his money, his family but...but my real savior was Liam. Liam showed me that I was gross, that I wasn't some cheap whore, that I deserved to be loved, that I was worth something.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah...The best for last, eh? Was it what you all wanted in this series? It's done now though, their back stories have been told and you know why Louis had to save them all. :D <3
> 
> Kudos and comments are always welcomed.

**Author's Note:**

> This was really hard but fun to write, I hope it lives up to all of your standards because I worked really hard on it.


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